May 20, 2023
“Uganda’s Next Generation of Scientists Takes the Stage at JASH 2025”
“Science stepped out of the lab and into the national spotlight.” That was the theme at the 19th Joint Annual Scientific Health Conference (JASH) 2025, held at Speke Resort Munyonyo, where young Ugandan researchers presented findings on malaria drug resistance, diagnostics, vector genomics, and immune responses .
The Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC) delivered eight oral presentations at the conference, which brought together researchers, policymakers, and health leaders under the theme “Unified Action Against Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases.”
Bienvenu Nsengimaana, a laboratory technologist at IDRC, shared: “It gave us the opportunity to share our malaria research findings with a big community at once and to appreciate how relevant our work is beyond the lab.” For him, the conference also sharpened his ability to communicate science to wider audiences .
Thomas Katairo, a young investigator at IDRC, emphasized the importance of local dissemination: “I’ve always wanted our work to be disseminated locally, especially to stakeholders. JASH gave us that opportunity, and as IDRC, we put our flag higher because of the quality of data we presented” .
Key research areas presented included:
- Vector genomics and immune responses
- Whether commonly used malaria rapid diagnostic tests continue to work effectively in Uganda (providing reassuring news for clinicians and communities)
- Malaria drug resistance patterns among refugee populations
